


A witch in the rain

by Valadilen



Series: The Cursed Witch [2]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Empress Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, F/M, Mentioned Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, Mentioned Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Original Character(s), Past Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 08:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22053244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valadilen/pseuds/Valadilen
Summary: When Regis and Dettlaff are looking for a place to stay in Tesham Mutna, they found a strange and dangerous magical dome. Certain it wasn't there last time he was here, Regis decides to investigate.
Relationships: Eskel (The Witcher)/Original Character(s), Eskel (The Witcher)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Cursed Witch [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587334
Kudos: 9





	1. The broken heart

There is a place in Toussaint that no one can reach without losing fingers. Feathers. Fur. Whatever the creature might be. When Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy discovered the place, his curiosity was picked, to say the least.  
He was scouting Tesham Mutna with Dettlaff, in hope to find somewhere to rest, away from Anna Henrietta’s guards. Even several decades after the infamous episode of “the Beast of Beauclair”, the Duchess was still trying to kill them. Not as relentless and bitter as it used to be she was an old woman after all; but the two vampires needed to be careful. Dettlaff had learnt his lesson about murdering humans. Geralt made sure of that by sticking his silver-coated gauntlet in the vampire’s face. It left a mark. Yet, it did not stop Dettlaff from disliking humans, spitting at their names every time the subject was brought into the conversation.  
Rain was pouring from the sky as if all the water in the oceans suddenly decided to fall on their heads. It was for this reason why Regis saw the strange place in the first place. At first, he saw the tip of a dome: the water falling on it either came a thin rain or simply flowed around it. The two vampires were pretty sure that last time they were here, no such thing was in place. They got closer. They were standing on a wall next to the dome bellow them. Dettlaff wanted to leave or kill whatever was in it, but Regis could not bring himself to do either. He mist-stepped down the wall. He felt the energy coming out of the strange translucid wall. If he touched it, he would get hurt. Thus, he tried to focus on what was behind it. There was a figure. Standing, still. Head down, arms low.

“There is someone in there.” He said, knowing that despite the rain, his friend could hear him loud and clear.  
“Another fucking human.” Growled Dettlaff. “Smell odd though.”  
“That might be because the human is a Sorceress.” Regis said. “I wonder why she’s here. We can take note on the stillness of her being, thus can tell she’s not casting a spell nor performing a ritual…”  
“Why do we care.” Dettlaff cut, not willing to listen to his chatty brother under heavy rain. “Let’s go!”  
“You go. I’ll stay a bit longer.”

Dettlaff decided not to argue. He left, living Regis next to the magical dome. The vampire looked around. Bodies where lying all around the frontier: humans, animals, creatures… All seemed to have died in the most painful death. Considering the state of their remains, it was rather obvious that they suffered in two different way: their hearts were ripped from their chest, then their bodies slowly have been consumed by low intensity fire. If only Regis could see better through the dome. Not willing to die –again— he came up with a plan. If the woman inside was indeed a sorceress, then she must have been the one casting the spell. Thus, getting her attention would be the key to satisfy the vampire’s curiosity. In order to do so, Regis took a plant from his messenger bag and presented to the magic ward. It did not even brush it when the flower suddenly burnt between Regis’ fingers. As expected, there was a reaction. The woman inside raised her head, then slowly turned around to see the intruder. The rain suddenly stopped, literally. All around the vampire, the drops of water were suspended in the air. It was beautiful; but the lady inside the dome was even more.  
She was a human with extremely long hair styled in a lose large bun behind her head. Her eyebrows where arched in a uncommon way; the form of her eyes accentuated the sleepy appearance of the woman; as well as her king looking looks. Regis suspected that a smile on her lips would make her look radiant; but she was not, in fact, smiling. It was quite the opposite: she had been crying a lot, making a strange contrast between the red eyes from the tears and the green color of her iris. She was wearing a black dress, a black cloak, black tights and black boot. Then Regis saw the tombstone behind her.

“What do you want?” She asked, her voice caught in her throat. Her accent made clear she was from Toussaint.  
“To know if you are okay. I saw the dome, then the bodies around it. Considering the rain and the remote location of those ruins, I was affray you might be lost, or something of the sort. But it seems I was wrong.”

Her face was familiar. The long locks cupping the sides of her face only made her more recognizable. Have they met before…? No. Regis would have remembered. As they stared at each other, the vampire understood she was studying him as well. Her face was perfectly still, like a state, but Regis could feel her rather loud and instable emotions roaring around her. Her heart was in pieces, yet it was an old hurt, in human perspective anyway; a decade or so old pain. She felt lonely. She was also battling with the sensation of knowing him.

“You are… You are Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy, are you not?” She suddenly said, taking Regis by surprise.  
“I—I am. I take it you’ve seen me before?”  
“No.” She said sadly. “But Geralt told me about you. He can’t make rimes even if his life depends on it, but he gave a pretty good description of you. You are a vampire, are you not.”  
“I am. I’m afraid I do not have the pleasure of knowing you.”  
“If you know me, then it’s not a pleasure.” She said bitterly.

She turned around again, setting her eyes on the tombstone again. With a gesture, she invited Regis inside the dome. He hesitated half a second before daring putting his hand through the magical wall. No burns appeared and his heart remained in his chest. Taking this as a good sign, he walked in. How small the word was, to meet a friend of Geralt in Tesham Mutna’s ruins. Yet, he never heard of her… Ah! Indeed, he never heard of her, but he did, in fact saw her. Twice! The first time was in the small notebook the Witcher thinks no one knows about. He draws faces in it. He was immortalizing Dettlaff’s on a page, while hers was gently smiling on the opposite one. The second time was in Beauclair, during the attack. She was keeping a magical ward up, protecting a house full of people from a bruxa. Regis saw it only half a second, while running with Geralt towards their objective of the time.

“My name is Amélie Thérèse Gwendoline Louise Joséphine de la Roche-Glacée.” She said. “You can call me Joséphine.”  
“A person with more mouthful names than I?” Regis softly chuckled. “The impossible does happen.”

Joséphine did not answer, she did not have the heart for it. Although she did find the comment amusing. The vampire stood next to her, then observed what was in front of him. The tombstone was decorated, to say the least. It was probably why the magic dome was in place, to keep looters away. There were two swords handing from the headstone, one made in steel the other in silver. There were pieces of armor, a box probably containing some objects of the deceased person. Candles were lit, despite the impossible humidity of the air. On the tomb was carved several letters Regis had to decipher: E-S-K-E-L. Eskel. The name was awfully familiar; and considering the swords, the man must have been a Witcher. Regis had his confirmation when he noticed Joséphine fiddling with a medallion. A wolf head shaped medallion.

“A friend?”  
“Lover.” She replied. “I’ve known him since before he was a Witcher. We were living in the same village when they came. They solved a curse problem, but the village was poor. So they took three boys, including him. _“Why can’t I go too?”_ I asked. “ _You’re a girl.”_ They said.”

Tears curled in the corner of her eyes, then rolled down her face, following the path around her nose, her lips, before falling from her jaws. Regis could see she felt stupid. She was speaking nonsense to a stranger who only had in common an acquaintance. The vampire was, sometimes, proud himself for knowing that he understood more about humans than anyone of his kind –which was untrue, he knew it. However, this time, he struggled to understand the woman’s storm of emotions. She wanted to talk but stop herself because of shame, yet needed to speak to someone. She knew that talking would not really help: Eskel will not come back from the grave. But there was something odd about her, something Regis could not comprehend. Didn’t human find comfort knowing they’ll see their loved ones again in the Afterlife? Perhaps Joséphine did not believe in such tales. Or perhaps she was not capable of letting go; like many before her did, thus nourishing a wide variety of tragic literature. There was another detail that did not sit well with him: she said she knew Eskel when they were children. Regis knew Eskel being Geralt best friend, they faced the Witchers trials together. Geralt was a little over a hundred-year-old now. Yennefer of Vengerberg, who is a bit younger, was getting older too; and it showed even with the magic sustaining her beauty. But this woman, this Joséphine… She looked _young_. Twenty-nine years, flawless skin, as if someone had painted a perfect portrait of her, immortalizing her beauty in the flesh. Even for a Sorceress such thing was impossible.

“I had an audience with Empress Cirilla.” She said, taking Regis away from his thoughts. “I brought the evidence that Yennefer killed Eskel to get to me.”

She melted in tears. Siting on her heels, she hid her face in her arms. The vampire started to understand a bit better the gravity of the scene he had stubbled in. He could not, however, understand why would Yennerfer kill Eskel. They did not love eachiother but remained, as far as Regis knew, civil at worst. 

“Geralt le—left her! Without the Djinn’s magic to bring him back, Yen—Yennefer could not make him come back to her!” Joséphine cried. “But I—I was still with Eskel. We were happy, Goddammit! First she curses me. Then she takes my heart away from me because she’s fucking jealous!”

Regis looked at the cadavers outside the dome. Her words explained a lot. But her talking about a curse picked his interest. A curse would explain why she looked untouched by Time; but why would Yennefer curse someone with eternal beauty…? Eternal. Eternal is the key word here. It took a while for the Vampire to understand what it entailed. From someone like him, immortality was nothing, just another subject of philosophy over the vampires’ existence. But for a human, who has been condition since birth to the idea that one day, they’ll lose their parents, their siblings, their friends then their own lives… And to be denied meeting them again, someday, in the afterlife… to watch familiar places fade away, to see their favorite things crumble… To lose the one who hold their heart is a terrible thing. To know he’ll be forever gone from their arms… The pain must be excruciating. Regis could not start to imagine the suffering this woman must be going through.

“What happened?” He gently asked, with all the softness he had. He knelt down next to her, trying to bring a bit of comfort with his presence. 

Joséphine did not answer, but she made her hands dance in the air. A small light appeared, then a box appeared between her fingers. She hesitated, almost suffocating in a sudden peak of anxiety. She opened the box, nonetheless. Regis closed his eyes and turned away. A human heart. It had black spots on it because of mutagens. It was covered with dry blood, lots of it. The arteries were ripped, as if something pulled the organ out of the chest with brutal force. Joséphine closed the box quickly then made it go.

“How did you come to think she might have something to do with his death?” Regis asked, as neutral as possible.

But Joséphine was simply crying. Why would Yennefer kill a friend just to spite an old rival? Could she truly do this? Did Joséphine have justice? Did Cirilla gave her reason? And if the now-not-so-little Ciri gave Joséphine reason, what became of Yennefer? Could the Empress go against the only maternal figure she truly ever had? It was said that the girl never could forgive the Sorceress for forcing her on the throne of Nilfgaard; but Regis found it hard to believe that she would give Yennefer the harsh punishment rulers usually give to magic users.


	2. Unexpected friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After meeting the Witch Joséphine, a friend of Geralt's, Regis is invited to stay in her sanctuary to avoid the rain; and so is Dettlaff.

Joséphine’s camp was a nice place: she had set up a comfy humidity-free space within the ruins of Tesham Mutna; away from the most… gruesome places that had survive time. It was clear to Regis that she came here often: the dust did not have time to cumulate on the furniture. The vampire watched his hostess remove the water off her body with a finger snap. Then, she lit a fire in the fireplace and set up a cauldron to cook food. She gave Regis something to dry himself with. She did invite him in, as well as Dettlaff. Whatever the vampire had heard the call of his friend was now his problem: Regis had found a safe place to rest for the night… As long as they respected the generous soul who let them stay with her.

“I’m not sure if I should offer you food or not…” Joséphine said, cutting through the silence. “Although Geralt told me about you, he was rather discreet on the details about your kind.”  
“What do you know of higher vampires?” Regis wondered has he sat on the stool his hostess offered him.  
“Very little. You have many forms, but usual take human form.” She said, then needed a moment to gather her thoughts; she was still a bit overwhelmed by all the emotions from an hour ago. “You drink human blood and cannot be killed. How wrong am I so far?”  
“Not wrong at all. You did not say that we despise garlic and wooden stakes.” Said Regis with a smile. “But we can be killed. It’s difficult, but possible.”  
“I cannot imagine the explanation that simplistic.” Joséphine muttered has she sat down on the over side of the cauldron.  
“You are right. If anything but another higher vampire kills me, then I’ll simply come back. It’s a slow process, but I will. Same goes for every higher vampire.”

Joséphine was awfully quiet. Regis had no idea how familiar this sounded to her.

“And we go eat food. The meal you are preparing, by the way, smells wonderful.”  
Regis could not stop from feeling proud when Joséphine smiled at his light-toned comment. The soup still needed an hour before being eatable; but she was glad she was not going to eat alone. This thought brought another one: she had no idea if vampires sleep, but she was going to give them the bed anyway (she was certain they wouldn’t mind sharing for one night). She will hide in her pocket dimension. Her guest took her away from her own thoughts when he stood too hang his soak coat on an abandoned chair. It was strange to look at this man and think he’s a vampire. He’s not human. The knowledge felt so odd: he rolled his shoulder the same as any man, he stood the same as any man. Joséphine stopped herself from staring.  
“Are you cold?” She asked. “Do you need a blanket or something?”  
“I’ll be fine, do not trouble yourself.” Regis reassured her, coming back towards the fireplace. “How do you feel?”

Joséphine said nothing, the mood swing will pass; they always do. It was not difficult from Regis to see that the woman did not want to talk about Eskel, Yennefer or any related matters. Thus, he carefully chose another subject of conversation. It led to her alchemy station he had noticed when he came in the small sanctuary. The smell coming from it was alcohol, chamomile, lime leaves and honeycomb.

“I couldn’t help noticing the alchemy station you have here. The smell tells me you’ve been brewing some sort of healing potion?”  
“Calming potion.” Joséphine nodded. “It needs to cool down for a day before I can add the five drops of pure extract of passiflora.”  
“It would become a powerful sedative, with multiple side effects.” Regis completed. “Wouldn’t valerian be more effective?”  
“Not on an incubus.” Joséphine let out with a smile. “Also valerian would make the mixture twice as slow as it could be.”  
“Do I want to know why an incubus needs a sedative?”  
“No, you don’t.” Joséphine softly laughed. “I know why, and I wish I didn’t. You know a lot about plants. Alchemist? Geralt said you do a mean mandrake moonshine.”  
“I am and I do.”

As they got into the subject of brewing alcohol, Joséphine discover two things. One: vampires aren’t affected by alcohol like humans do. Two: Regis was one chatty gentleman. He talked for two hours straight and only stopped because someone knocked on the door.

“It’s Dettlaff.” Regis said.

Trusting him, Joséphine opened the door and came face to face with the grumpiest man she ever met. More than Geralt and Lambert combined, to tell the level of grouchiness that was emanating from the higher vampire. Dettlaff was a tall and intimidating man. When Regis explained that his friend was not the most sociable of all, Josephine did not believe him. Now, she did. Sweet gods was the man scary. Black leather suited him; but he needed to change his outfit if he ever wanted to get along with anyone. How did the two vampires manage to be friends was above the woman’s comprehension.

“Who’s that?” Dettlaff bluntly asked Regis.  
“That is our hostess, thus you’ll show a bit of respect, my friend.” Regis smiled. “I present you Amélie Thérèse Gwendoline Louise Joséphine de la Roche-Glacée, a very generous sorceress who—”  
“A witch. I’m a witch.” Corrected the woman.  
“I’m pleased to present you my friend, Dettlaff van der Eretein.” Regis said.  
“Whatever.” Mumbled Dettlaff, taking his coat off and shoving it in a corner.

He moved past Joséphine without even greeting her properly. Regis watched has one of her eyebrows raised so high in her face it disappeared in her hairline. The blank look on her eyes was oddly scary. She turned slowly and, standing like a Beauclair lady –which she must have been at some with the name she carried—addressed Dettlaff with the coldest voice the vampires ever heard coming from a human.

“Perhaps I should simply toss the both of you into the rain. The weather won’t get any better for the next five days; and since you’re here, that means you did not manage to find a proper shelter.” She said. “Thus, I’ll ask you to follow some basic rules while you are in my sanctuary; rules that I know from fact vampires can follow.”  
“Are you commanding me to be something else than myself, human.”  
“No such things, my dear.” Joséphine smile, which made sent down shivers down the vampires’ spines. “But don’t temped me. I can’t kill you, but you cannot kill me either. In other words, let’s act like civilized people. You _will_ address me politely. You _will_ make yourself as little a burden as possible. You _will_ do as I say while enjoying the comfort of _my_ home. Are we clear?”

The two vampires had a moment of blankness. They heard her. They understood her. They had to agree with her, not because of some magic spell but because it was the right thing to do in their current situation. Joséphine smiled once more then invited them both around the fireplace. The meal was ready, and she was starving. By the way Regis downed his bowl, he was quite hungry himself; or her soup tasted particularly good. Dettlaff, on that end, showed more restraint. Although the vampire ate the food, he did not seem capable of appreciating it to its fullest. Perhaps did he not like regular human food? Or perhaps he was just a slow eater.

“You can take your time, Mr Regis.” Joséphine said, taking his bowl to fill it again. “There is plenty more, I won’t let you starve.”  
“My apologies…” The vampire said, a bit embarrassed.  
“T’is fine.” She smiled, giving him back is bowl, which was steaming with a delicate perfume.  
“Tell us more about you.” Regis said. “I know you are a friend of Geralt (Dettlaff left a small hiss out) but little else. From your accent and name, you must be from Toussaint, but told me you lived in a village North?”  
“In Kaedwen, yes.” Josephine completed. “I was born in Toussaint, noble family of La Roche-Glacée. But my grandfather tricked the bets during the Tourney. During the investigation, the Duc discovered that he was also manufacturing fisstech and my father helped him cover his tracks. I knew the family had issues with money, but never expected they would go towards making harmful drugs. Anyway, we became destitute and were banished from Toussaint. My mother had distant cousins in Kaedwen –turned out they lost their lands and titles too—then settles there.”  
“I know you are a skilled alchemist, but what about the magic? How did fall into it?”  
“My dear, nobody “falls into magic”.” She smiled. “It takes a great deal of efforts to master any spells… Or at least for average persons such as myself. Unlike the Lodge, I have no natural talent for magic but my simple capability to wield it. The answer to your question is rather simple, though. After mastering the herbalist trade, I grew tired of making the same things over and over again. I knew magic runs in the family, thus seek out a way to learnt to use it.”  
“How did you do it?” Dettlaff asked, before noticing his interest in the story was showing.  
“I went to a public library.” Josephine said. “Then read all the books I could, before my parents managed to track me down and drag me back home. But a sorceress and his wife –another sorceress if you want to know—had noticed me, he came to visit, explained everything to my parents then asked if I could become his apprentice. Since I was just another mouth to feed, they let me go. The next ten years were the worst of my life! Endless lines to copy, thousands of books to memorize word-by-word and impossible hours of meditation just to lit a candle! I really don’t recommend it.”

Regis laughed softly.

“Yet you kept on going.”  
“Of course. As soon as you learn the basic, magic kills your ability to have children. If I came back home with no knowledge and being impossible to marry, I would have been disowned.” Joséphine said. “I loved my parents, but I prefer the city rather than a small village lost in the middle of the mountains. Well… I used too, anyway.”  
“How so?”  
“Cities are dangerous for magic users nowadays, as I’m sure you are aware of.” She said. “Enough about me. It’s the first time I have two higher vampires as guests. I want to know more about you. Geralt told me you two were involved in the sordid affair of the Beast of Beauclair, but little else.”  
“We helped him deal with the vampire killing the knights.” Regis said.

It was not exactly a lie. The lady did not need to know the beast of Beauclair was enjoying her soup. Since Regis always have been quite protective of his friend, there was no reasons to put him at risk… if risk there was. Despite her terrifying cold attitude from before, Joséphine seemed to be a calm and gentle soul. She also knew she could not kill them –not really—and knew better than making an enemy of someone who cannot die. He told the story –his version of it anyway—in great length. The witch noted some words she was certain did not exist, yet was used by the vampire with the utmost serious. At some point, Joséphine looked at Dettlaff, wondering if Regis was always like that. He was more focused on the length of the tale rather than its content; thus his amused looked scream a loud “yes!” to the hostess quiet question, making Joséphine laugh. The vampire who was talking did not manage to understand why the burst of happiness; not that he was complaining: her laugh was beautiful.  
Once the moon was high in the sky, they called it a night. Despite being assured they were warding spells, Dettlaff refused to go to sleep in favor to keep watch. None of the guests needed to sleep, in theory; but the grumpy vampire silently forced the chatty one to go to bed, as Joséphine suggested. Both however, jumped when they saw the woman cross the big mirror put against a wall and disappear.  
The next morning, when Joséphine came back from the mirror, Dettlaff jumped so badly Regis woke up with his heart racing.

“Morning, gentlemen.” She said, while setting up the fireplace for breakfast. “Don’t tell me I scared you.”

The vampires did not comment; but yes, she scared the death out of them. Sort of. They did not comment either when she said they looked like scared cats. Although Regis liked the comparison.  
Joséphine was not planning on staying here until the storm outside stops. Thus, she invited the vampires to use the place as long as they needed. Before leaving, she thanked Regis for wanting to talk to her the day before, when she was feeling down. She told him: “If you ever need help, tap three times on a mirror.”. She did not usually let people she just met in the confidence. Being able to summon her was useful if dealt with care. But the witch did not want to be harassed. However, she liked Regis. If anything of what Geralt said was true, then the vampire could be trusted.

She walked back in the mirror, and the object itself disappeared.

The vampires looked at the empty space on the wall, then each over. It almost felt as if all of this was a dream. Then they smelled the soup for lunch cooking and clean covers waiting on the bed. And the tombstone inside the dangerous magic dome was still outside.

If it was all but a dream, then Regis wouldn’t mind dreaming it again.


End file.
